IslamicFinance.de

The “International Conference on Islamic Microfinance” is going to be held on June 13 in Islamabad. The organiser is AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics Pakistan.
Nowadays more than 300 Islamic microfinance organisations are working in Indonesia, Kenya, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Tanzania, Mauritius, South Africa, Malaysia and Pakistan.

Reims Management School (RMS) will launch a pioneering certificate program in Islamic Banking and Finance, that will be held in partnership with the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The unicity of the programm consists in the fact that it offers both current students on the MSc in Finance and International Banking program, as well as executives, the possibility to study the Islamic banking system and capital markets.

Alinma Bank and Deutsche Gulf Finance signed an agreement that has the point to strengthen joint real estate financing and to provide real estate financing programs with affordable, long-term provisions with flexibility in repayment.
Alinma Bank was represented by Mr. Abdulmohsen Al-Fares, its CEO and Deutsche Gulf Finance was represented by Mr. Fahad Ben Abdullah Al Rajhi, chairman of the company's board of directors.
The signing ceremony took place at the head office of Alinma Bank in Riyadh.

TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD posessed on the 25th April RM150 million of Islamic commercial papers (ICP).
It appears that the ICPs were the first tranche under the proposed RM2 billion ICP programnme and Islamic medium term notes.

Because of the protests that are going on for three months now, Yemen may cancel the sale of a 25 billion-rial ($117 million) Islamic bond. This will happen if banks do not have enough liquidity following customer withdrawals during the unrest.
The demonstrators want the designation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Capital Investments – the investment banking arm of Capital Bank - succeeded the first issuance of Islamic Sukuk in Jordan for the benefit of Al-Rajhi Cement – Jordan.
It was signed by a number of leading Islamic and commercial banks, including Capital Bank, Cairo Amman Bank, Islamic International Arab Bank, Union Bank, Jordan Kuwait Bank, Bank of Jordan, and Arab Islamic Bank.

After the derangement of President Hosni Mubarak, chances begin to come along for Egypt to become a new hub for the booming Islamic finance.
Although Egypt is considered the birthplace of Islamic finance, its growth has lagged due to past corruption scandals.

An executive master’s degree program for Islamic finance management at Effat University was started by Prince Turki Al-Faisal, a member of university’s board of trustees, in order to underline the success achieved by Islamic banking in overcoming the global economic crisis.
Islamic finance management is the first program under the newly established deanship for higher studies and scientific research at the university.

KFH achieved total revenues during First Quarter of this year. Net profit to shareholders reached KD22.6m.
Assets grasped KD12.753bn with an increase of KD1.1bn with 9% increase over the same period last year. Deposits extended to KD8.2bn with a KD1.05m increase and 15% increase over the same period last year.

A report by Gulf Daily News states that Al Baraka Banking Group is going to proceed with its plans to expand its Syrian operations.
The Syrian unit has plans to open two new branches in Hama and Aleppo this month.

A historic opportunity for economic and financial change guided by Sharia-compliant instruments appeared because of the political transformation in the Middle East and North Africa.
Volker Nienhaus, economic adviser and former president of the University of Marburg, stated at the 19th International Conference on Investment Rules and their Impact on Economic Development that Islamic instruments should be invested in the development of an entrepreneurial middle class so that long-term economic progress and job creation can be guaranteed.
Dr Nienhaus underlined his statement by telling Gulf News that the promotion of enterprise among the middle class was the key to ensuring regional stability.

For three days in April social entrepreneurs including designers, businesspersons, humanitarians and investors were gathered in Oxford, England at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship and its more discursive 'un-conference' the Oxford Jam.
An important part of the session was focused on securing investment to start and scale social enterprises.
Also, Tom Hume introduced IDEOs 3 principles to create large-scale innovation:
1) Build on existing user behavior.
2) Scale up by going where people already congregate.
3) Prototype early

Adnan Ahmed Yousif, chairman of the Union of Arab Banks (UAB), states that banks from the Gulf are looking to acquire Turkish banks .
The statement given at the “Enhancing Shamgen Banking: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan” conference in Istanbul reveiled that Arab banks like Al Rajah Bank, Qatar National Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank want to become established in Turkey by purchasing a national bank.

Al Rajhi Cement Company became on Tuesday the first company in Jordan that provides Islamic sukuk to finance its operations in the Kingdom.
The declaration of the sukuk issuance, the first in the Kingdom’s history, was made during the signing ceremony that was attended by heads and directors of the participating financial institutions in the issuance.

1Malaysia Micro Protection Plan (1MMPP) has been created to intensify accessibility and affordability of insurance and takaful protection for Malaysians.
It appears that the plan was mainly for small businesses, micro enterprises and individuals seeking accessible and affordable financial protection in managing unexpected events such as death, illnesses, accidents, fires and loss of property.
Four options will be provided: life insurance, family takaful, general insurance and general takaful.

In a study made by Ernst & Young on Islamic insurance it is underlined that the move of Bermuda’s new emphasis on attracting this business is a smart one.
The conclusions of a Bermuda Finance Ministry feasibility study were that there are no major legislative or regulatory impediments to introducing Islamic financial product offerings in Bermuda.

Demand for the Kingdom of Bahrain sovereign debt, which the Central Bank manages on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, are still at low levels.
Demand for debt with longer maturities remained strong. The CBB was capable o issue 12 month Government Treasury Bills at a coverage of 211%.

A report recently published by Frost & Sullivan showes that Islamic asset management is gaining interest among investors as an avenue for alternative investment. They claim that the center is beginning to be new categories of Islamic products like hedge funds, fund of funds, index funds and exchange traded funds.
However, the report also states that the Islamic asset management industry is provoked by a lack of depth in the GCC capital market, causing inefficiencies in portfolio management.

Bloomberg Professional initiated in february the Bloomberg Islamic Finance Platform (ISLM), that is described to be more connected to the community and to provide analytical tools to maximise investment performance in the rapidly growing market for Shari'ah-compliant products and services.
Bloomberg will also launch, together with the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM), a Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) sukuk index that supplies a benchmark for MYR sovereign sukuk investments.

In late December 2010 Professor Datuk Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim, Secretary-General of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) was the last one to receive the Islamic Business & Finance Award 2010 for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry.
The Professor guided the IFSB from its beginning in 2003.